Clipmarks | Life Clips

Alife, i.e. artificial life ahead

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:19:53 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "Just as 19th-century engineers studied the flight of birds and dreamed of being airborne, he says, so today's computer engineers marvel at the intelligence in all forms of life and contemplate the potential of more efficient computation."
It may be sooner that expected, are we ready for it? does it matter?
I think it does. I think we as a human society much put more effort in thinking the future ahead of us.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it

Artificial life, often referred to as alife, is a very diverse field of study, encompassing simulations, computer models, robotics and biochemistry.

It's also a very esoteric community, but their work has proven, despite much controversy, to have many practical applications.

"The key aspects are production of a self-sustaining metabolism, a membrane to separate this metabolic system from its environment and an informational system, such as DNA, to support replication and heredity."

"Although we are not yet at the stage of creating a totally self-producing, self-reproducing, autonomous living cell, considerable advances have been made on individual aspects."

Venter has recently managed to insert artificially constructed chromosomes into existing living cells

Mark Bedau

has manufactured artificial vesicles - in effect, artificial cell walls

"The alife community has always been a place where [scientific] outsiders could gather

Tags: life, technology, biology, philosophy

Water is the source of life

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:22:48 GMT

clipped by: LoPhatt

Clip Source: thehomebased.com

This is life in Australia

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:54:05 GMT

clipped by: CarnivalBorn

Clip Source: www.doobybrain.com

For those who have never been to Australia, this song portrays life here exactly as it is. Exactly.

I mean, I can’t even tell the difference between my life here and the life shown in this music video because it’s so dang similar.

Here’s an interesting fact: The lead singer of Men At Work is Colin Hay, who you might know as the guy who sang “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” on the Garden State soundtrack.

[Video]

Mirror-Image Clues to Life's Origins

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:33:45 GMT

clipped by: Jorjor
clipper's remarks: From the source:

The meteorites did this by providing building blocks with a slight preponderance of that handedness (known scientifically as chirality) that makes life possible.

"We know that all amino acids start mirror-image the same, but in living things they have this handedness," said Ronald Breslow, a Columbia University researcher who published recently on the topic. "This change doesn't happen spontaneously, and we've never been able to reproduce it in the laboratory" under conditions similar to early Earth.

"The answer to where it comes from looks increasingly like meteorites," he added, "from extraterrestrial bodies falling to Earth. It's a complex story, but we're beginning to understand it better."

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

For more than 150 years, scientists have known that the most basic building blocks of life -- chains of amino acid molecules and the proteins they form -- almost always have the unusual characteristic of being overwhelmingly "left-handed." The molecules, of course, have no hands, but they are almost all asymmetrical in a way that parallels left-handedness.

But research into the question has picked up in recent years, focusing on a 200-pound chunk of rock found 40 years ago in Murchison, Australia. A meteorite that broke off an asteroid long ago, it brought to Earth a rich collection of carbon-based material from far away in the solar system.

The answer they believe they have found is that 3 billion to 4 billion years ago, before life on Earth began, similar meteorites crashed regularly into the planet -- delivering the amino acids that would later be incorporated into all living things.

Tags: science, evolution, meteor, life, earth

Scientists meet for alien summit

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:07:07 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: I hope they share some of their findings and information with the public

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

An artists impression of the planet going around the star Vega, which the Scuba 2 instrument discovered

The origins of life in our galaxy and the search for alien life outside our solar system will be at the forefront of discussions by experts in Edinburgh

'Are We Alone?'.

There are now more than 300 planets known beyond our own Solar System.

Known as exo-planets, they are likely to be discovered with the completion of instruments such as Scuba 2, a camera to detect dust from the earliest phases of the formation of galaxies and, in the near future, the James Webb Space Telescope, an orbiting telescope to catch the first light of the universe.

The aim of the workshop is to gather researchers from areas including astrophysics, geophysics and biology to discuss astronomical instruments, both present and future, and laboratory based experiments studying extreme environments.

key speakers in astrobiology, atmospheric physics and astrophysics

Tags: universe, alien life, summit, astrophysics

Life, Liberty, Property > Law

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:46:42 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: From F. Bastiat's book, The Law.

Clip Source: www.econlib.org

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.

If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force for individual forces. And this common force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to maintain the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all.

But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper functions.

The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others.

It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.

Charlie Chaplin’s Guide to Picking Yourself Up When Life Knocks You Down

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:38:59 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of oneself. — Charlie Chaplin

very good site this...

Clip Source: www.successsoul.com

Filed Under Soul of Inspiration

Laughter is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain. — Charlie Chaplin

You’ll never find rainbows if you’re looking down. — Charlie Chaplin

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. — Charlie Chaplin

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles. — Charlie Chaplin

You have to believe in yourself, that’s the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. —- Charlie Chaplin

Life is a beautiful magnificent thing, even to a jelly fish. … The trouble is you won’t fight. You’ve given up. But there’s something just as inevitable as death. And that’s life. Think of the power of the universe — turning the earth, growing the trees. That’s the same power within you — if you’ll only have the courage and the will to use it. — Charlie Chaplin

No naked black holes

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:33:41 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Winter woollies and a scuba outfit and off you go.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

The Cassini spacecraft observations of Saturn's largest moon, the orange-colored Titan, have given scientists a glimpse of what Earth might have been like before life evolved. They now believe Titan possesses many parallels to Earth, including lakes, rivers, channels, dunes, rain, snow, clouds, mountains and possibly volcanoes.

"Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material -- it's a giant factory of organic chemicals," according to Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "We are carbon-based life, and understanding how far along the chain of complexity towards life that chemistry can go in an environment like Titan will be important in understanding the origins of life throughout the universe."

"This extended tour is responding to these new discoveries and giving us a chance to look for more."

Unlike Earth, Titan's lakes, rivers and rain are composed of methane and ethane,

minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit

Tags: astronomy

GUILTY: OJ Simpson

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:58:45 GMT

clipped by: BitDrifter
clipper's remarks: Could spend rest of life in prision.

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

O.J. Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after he was acquitted of murder in 1995, was found guilty Friday of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Simpson, 61, could spend the rest of his life in prison. Sentenced was set for Dec. 5.

I want the pro-life option!

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:33:07 GMT

clipped by: pcmkrfn

Clip Source: www.azcentral.com

An anti-abortion group has won its long legal fight to force Arizona to issue “choose life” license plates, and the proposed new plates could be available to the group's members within several months.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said it would “quickly and fully comply” with the courts' direction. The department said it would consider what to do next, “including the potential” for a meeting of the state license plate commission to reconsider the proposal.

Magical Thinking

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:12:45 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationall"

Clip Source: beinart.org

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

Even hard-core skeptics can't help but find sympathy in the fabric of the universe—and occasionally try to pull its strings.

Emotional stress and events of personal significance push us strongly toward magical meaning-making.

"There are many layers of belief," psychologist Carol Nemeroff says. "And the answer for many people, especially with regard to magic, is, 'Most of me doesn't believe but some of me does.'

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

What makes something sacred is not its material makeup but its unique history

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

there's a key chemical involved in magical thinking. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that the brain uses to tag experiences as meaningful, floods the brains of schizophrenics, who see significance in everything, but merely trickles in many depressives, who struggle to find value in everyday life

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationall

Americans now fleeing to Mexico

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:07:50 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: Unconfirmed Sources political satire and news story parodies as represented above are written as satire or parody. They are, of course, fictitious.

Clip Source: www.unconfirmedsources.com

A group of young, former Lehman Bros. executives make plans to cross the border into Mexico.

Faced with seemingly insurmountable financial and personal hurdles, Americans have been streaming across the border into Mexico in the hopes of finding a better quality of life.

Mexican border patrol agents have abandoned searching for Mexicans crossing into the US and are now focused on Americans crossing into Mexico.

One American who was caught crossing the border was former Lehman Bros. Financier Ralph Goldman. "I just want a better life for my wife and kids", Goldman tearfully explained to the Mexican border patrol agent. "All the money and jobs have come here. The weather is nicer. Houses are cheaper. The banks haven't failed. I could have a life here".

Lame Duck President George W. Bush promised those who remain in America a $25 McDonald's gift certificate in addition to their economic stimulus checks. However, the House and Senate have not yet verified the gift certificate offer.

Tags: satire, unconfirmedsources

Where Life Found Refuge During Mass Extinction

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:32:06 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: A window to the future.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Oct. 3, 2008 -- During the worst apocalypse the planet has ever known, somehow, life found a way to survive. But how? Scientists now think they have an answer: a nurturing refuge in the shallow continental shelf waters of northwestern Pangea.

Where Life Waited It Out | Video: Discovery Earth

During the end of the Permian era 250 million years ago, global warming ran rampant on Earth, extinguishing 95 percent of life in the ocean, and 70 percent of life on land.

Through the darkest days, the planet was a barren wasteland. Ocean circulation, so vital to our modern climate, had shut off. Huge algal blooms sucked the seas dry of oxygen. Poisonous hydrogen sulfide built up to lethal concentrations in the water and may have even been belched into the atmosphere, suffocating organisms on shore.

The fossil record of the Permian-Triassic extinction is a stark one -- rocks go from teeming with life to nearly empty in the geologic blink of an eye.

But searching through deposits

intact marine ecosystem

Tags: rock, doctors

Religion: why do people believe in God?

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:41:46 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Religion: why do people believe in God?

For all of us, life is full of uncertainties and difficulties, and it ends in death. Every religion claims to overcome death, to provide certainty, and reward us for being good. So great is our fear of life and death that most of us allow hope to override our intellect.

A sense of justice leads us to choose standards, and in doing so we condemn ourselves to living this life in terms of the next. If you set standards which you can easily reach, you limit the amount of self-inflicted pain you will suffer, but if you acquire, say, a Calvinist conscience you set yourself impossible standards, and berate yourself for your constant failure to live up to them.

No religion accepts us as the person we know ourselves to be. Rather, we are told that we are inadequate, unsatisfactory and helpless. We fear that this is so, and to give us hope we, like Ella, construct a fantasy about how we are superior to those who do not share our views.

Tags: religion, god, belief

40 Days for Life

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:05:49 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: prolife, abortion